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[TheArtistJiii]

Looks very cool. What are you using to build this?

[wuuthrer]

I'm pretty happy I stumbled on this post. Great tentacles, your .gif's made me want to play :]

[Cakeprediction]

Looks very cool. What are you using to build this?

Thanks, I'm using Game Maker:Studio to make this game

I'm pretty happy I stumbled on this post. Great tentacles, your .gif's made me want to play :]

Glad you like it ^^. It'll take a while until I put out a demo probably, but you never know :p
Update 14:
Alright, so this time I just worked a bit more on modular parts and behavioural genes.

behaviour-wise, I've added two of the four wanted behavioural genes:Hostility and "balls".
Hostility defines the rate of how often the monster will use its special attack
Balls defines how close the monster's preferred distance to the player is.

Modular-wise, I've added one head gene and one body gene, one of which I promised a long time ago.

May I present to you, the laser Head gene:

Like mentioned many times before, it should be a crime not to include a ridiculous laser enemy when working with tentacles.
I think this speaks for itself though.

The body gene I've added is "acidskin", meaning it will do contact damage and periodically drop tiny blobs of acid from its skin that do damage:

Also pretty straight-forward I guess.

No idea what I'll work on next, maybe some more modular parts and genes, or perhaps I'll add the hud/ actualy damage and dying or maybe I'll start working on the simulation and hunting grounds stuff.
Also, I'm still looking for an artist, so if you think you'd like to collaborate with me on this, feel free to send me a pm ^^. I'll probably also open a topic in the collaborations board

[darthlupi]

This is a really fun project to watch.
I don't think I have seen such menace in a 2d monster in some time!

This stuff reminds me of the Aquabats FLOATING EYE OF DEATH!

[blindskystudios]

This looks like a bunch of fun. Looking forward to seeing more!!

[Nicholas Lives]

Wow, even without art this thing looks amazing visually.  The motion alone sells the action here. I seriously want to be able to make tentacles move as fluidly as you've managed here. Can't wait to see how it progresses! 

[Cakeprediction]

Wow, even without art this thing looks amazing visually.   The motion alone sells the action here. I seriously want to be able to make tentacles move as fluidly as you've managed here. Can't wait to see how it progresses!  

Thank you :D

This is a really fun project to watch.
I don't think I have seen such menace in a 2d monster in some time!

This stuff reminds me of the Aquabats FLOATING EYE OF DEATH!

floating eye of death

I'm glad you like it I actually indeed hope the ridiculous and menacing monster thing is something people'll get excited for

That eye looks pretty cool xd, I've never heard of it though, I'll check it out some time

This looks like a bunch of fun. Looking forward to seeing more!!

And more, you will get to see :D
Update 15:
So, I have quite some exciting things to share with you this time Before I get to that though, I'll just show you the last eye and body gene that're currently planned for the demo, the "dash" eye gene and the "hive" body gene:

The visuals for the dash are currently super duper ugly, even uglier than the other placeholders
The dash is pretty straight-forward, the monsters just dash at you, doing damage if they hit you(I'm planning to add some particles to show when he's able to damage you later).


Still has some depth issues I've already fixed in this gif
The hive gen is pretty much the old hive enemy transformed into a body gen, it adds a few gross sacks to the monster's body that occasionally spawn hivelings, little low health bugs that charge at you(also planning to add some indicative particles here).
Right now the balance on these bugs is totally botched though, I'll change the spawning times, some stats and the spawn cap later.


Now, on to the exciting news.

First of all, a very skilled artist just joined the team, Matwek!
He will be handling all the environmental and monster graphics and will probably be polishing the characters, which I'll still be doing myself.
Right now, he's working on a basic tileset for the game and it's already looking quite incredible imo:

So yeah, I'm really, really glad that he joined the "team", he's been a great guy to work with so far

Besides this, we're planning to have a finished demo around november or december. That's at least what we're aiming for right now.

The thing I'll start working on now is probably the first "district"(I want the map to be divided into certain districts), which'll also be the demo map.

[Ian_A]

That's a great looking tileset. Looking forward to seeing how the monsters will look with new art 

[Joh]

Looking good! Also curious how the monsters are gonna look!
(No pressure )
Keep up the good work!

[wuuthrer]

Waouw. This pixel art looks pretty awesome.

Still, I'm wondering... why did you choose pixel art and not another kind of graphics? To be honest, I first got hooked because of the low-fi/quirky style of the monsters. I mean... I realise this were prototype graphics, but I really liked how abstract looked the flying tentacles creeps. I think you gonna loose that.

I'm not saying pixel art is a bad thing, but I just wish sometimes we could get more original graphics graphcis that emphasized the tone of the game. What's your feeling about it? Do you want the game to be cute, dark, weird or whatever? I truly think it's very important to give a "soul" to your game.

[Cakeprediction]

That's a great looking tileset. Looking forward to seeing how the monsters will look with new art 

You'll see this devlog, huehue.

Looking good! Also curious how the monsters are gonna look!
(No pressure )
Keep up the good work!

Thanks, We'll be sure to keep up the work :D

Waouw. This pixel art looks pretty awesome.

Still, I'm wondering... why did you choose pixel art and not another kind of graphics? To be honest, I first got hooked because of the low-fi/quirky style of the monsters. I mean... I realise this were prototype graphics, but I really liked how abstract looked the flying tentacles creeps. I think you gonna loose that.

I'm not saying pixel art is a bad thing, but I just wish sometimes we could get more original graphics graphcis that emphasized the tone of the game. What's your feeling about it? Do you want the game to be cute, dark, weird or whatever? I truly think it's very important to give a "soul" to your game.

Alright, I think this requires a bit of a longer response, explaining my thoughts.

why did you choose pixel art and not another kind of graphics? To be honest, I first got hooked because of the low-fi/quirky style of the monsters. I mean... I realise this were prototype graphics, but I really liked how abstract looked the flying tentacles creeps. I think you gonna loose that.
I actually have a few reasons for using pixel art, to put it simply:
1. I like pixel art and I'm also way better at myself than traditional or higher res art, so this way I can also still add small bits to the art. For example, Matthew is mainly an environmental artist, so I still do the player and animations. I couldn't have done that in traditional or higher res art.
2. I'm using Game Maker Studio, and most of my code isn't very optimized and tentacles+tons of particles can become quite heavy quite quickly, Pixel art helps keep that heavyness a bit lower, unlike higher resolution graphics
3. Matthew was the person whose work I liked the most and he had some wonderful ideas. I might've gone for another art style if there was somebody I felt was more fitting for the project and if that person was better at something different than pixel art.

I liked the abstract style myself too, but there was only so much I could do with it to make it visually interesting and tell the story I want to tell, so I think in the end I made the right decision going away from that. Also, people never like change, but sometimes it's for the best(I think kerfuffle is a way better example than this case).


I'm not saying pixel art is a bad thing, but I just wish sometimes we could get more original graphics graphcis that emphasized the tone of the game. What's your feeling about it? Do you want the game to be cute, dark, weird or whatever? I truly think it's very important to give a "soul" to your game.
I disagree a bit with this statement from an artist perspective. I get pixel art gets used a lot, but so do lots of other art styles really, and within pixel art there are lots of different styles too, saying all things making use of low res pixels are the same is the same like saying all vector art is the same or all traditional art is the same(I'm not saying you said that though, more of a general statement too).

Also, setting the tone of the game or giving a game a "soul" and pixel art are not mutually exclusive, It's actually quite easy to still give your game a soul. I think momodora(especially reverie under the moonlight) is a great example of setting the tone with pixel art. All the art is quite obviously pixel art, and even each individual area has such an amazing atmosphere and the game definitely is full of soul in my opinion.
Example:

This is quite obviously not my game, it's momodora:Reverie under the moonlight. This simple screenshot of it already sets quite an awesome atmosphere and tone, and it's pixel art.

Another example is superbrothers:swords and sorcery. Again, pixel art and a vastly different art style within pixel art than momodora, and it's full of atmosphere and soul.
Example:

I could go on for a while, but I think this conveys my thoughts well enough

Anyway, this turned into quite a rant, but I think it's helpful to have it on the internet or whatever. Maybe you can understand my point of view a bit better

Also, I hope you don't see this as me defensively or aggressively reacting to your post It was more of a general thing that was dwelling in my mind for a while and your response felt like a proper time to express this.

NOW ON TO THE DEVLOG! WHOOOOOSH
Update 16:
So, Matthew has been working a bit and we have a base behemoth in the new art style ready :D In my opinion he looks quite awesome and thanks to Matt's ideas I could give the behemoth quite a bit of life, and this way it's easier to make better-looking modular enemies:

The behemoth is still made of segments, influenced by mods, this time it has different mouths(that will represent head genes), two shells of armor(that will represent body genes along with the base body) and the base body, plus the tentacles of course.

Right now you can't see the different genes the behemoth in this gif has, but we're working on the individual genes so they'll be visible again later.

The geometry for the demo map is also done, I'll start working on adding the npcs and fleshing it out a bit more soon, and after that I can get to the cool simulation stuff for encounters(although adding in the planned npcs will take a while :p)

Also, since the tileset is now 32x32, I've remade the 24x24 player to fit that size:

Now I'll just need to animate her...again... ;-;
It'll be worth it though!

Any thoughts about the new behemoth and player would be appreciated ^^
See you next time o/

[chariospirale]

the behemoth look super awesome. this is going to be very nice with all the news arts !
the only problem for me is all the tentacles, maybe with part more "round" it's look more fluid.

for the character, the sword in the ground is a little bit strange i think.

can't wait to see some backgrounds on it !

[Cakeprediction]

the behemoth look super awesome. this is going to be very nice with all the news arts !
the only problem for me is all the tentacles, maybe with part more "round" it's look more fluid.

for the character, the sword in the ground is a little bit strange i think.

can't wait to see some backgrounds on it !

Thanks :D
Yeah, the tentacles are still a bit weird here and there because they're so segmented and I'm not really sure how to make them feel more round.
The sword in the ground is also still strange because the ground is currently transparent, so you can still see a part of the sword you're not supposed to see :p

Update 17:
First of all, the game has gotten its first piece of fan-art and it's freaking amazing D: I honestly never expected such a thing, especially since all I've shown so far are gifs with almost only placeholders.



By Triangletheurgy


Besides this exciting news, I've done all the animations of and implemented the new resized player, I'm actually quite happy with the result It also allows me to make npcs a bit better-looking.


Speaking of NPCs, I've also created a semi-placeholder version of the first npc, who runs a noodle stand:

He does not seem to be particularly excited about having to work during a tentacle apocalypse, I wonder why…

Oh well, so basically I’m now gonna work on adding all the npcs to the points of interest of the demo map, once that’s done I’ll finally start working on the simulation of hunting grounds and flocks. Perhaps dying and a hud would also be important things to have before the demo gets released.

[ProgramGamer]

You would think that a fast food stand would thrive during a tentacle monster Apocalypse, considering all the calamari you could make and whatnot.

[Cakeprediction]

You would think that a fast food stand would thrive during a tentacle monster Apocalypse, considering all the calamari you could make and whatnot.

Yeah, I guess his boss thought so to, but what do you know: turns out people don't like going out to get some noodles or calamari or anything else during an eldritch mech tentacle apocalypse.

Update 18:
Pretty huge update this time. I had to spend a few hours without internet, so I got a ton of work done, because I didn't have any distractions.

Let's start off with the smaller things:

I've re-added the door system(plus a pretty nice transition effect, slightly inspired by Leilani's Island), and made a house with the second npc. In the full game this guy'll run the safehouse where you can bring people you've found on the streets. They might even give you rewards as a token of grattitude.

Now, on to the exciting big stuff, I've actually added the hunting ground and flock simulation!

This is a small hunting ground
Hunting grounds will randomly spawn in the demo(but not more than one), and will keep growing and growing until they've filled an entire district(hunting grounds can be identified by the grass). Once you're inside hunting grounds, monsters will keep harassing you until you've destroyed the heart. Every time you hit it, the hunting grounds decrease in size and it will provoke more monsters. Once it's destroyed however, the hunting grounds will completely disappear, until new hunting grounds spawn.

In the demo, the hunting grounds will just spawn randomly, but in the full game with more than one district, I actually have quite some neat plans.


ENCOUNTER!
This is a Flock
Flocks are moving groups of enemies that will travel between nodes placed on the map in the demo(in the full game, they will be spawned by giants). Once you get close to them, an ENCOUNTER will happen and the enemies'll spawn. Once the enemies are dead, the flock will be destroyed.
Flocks also will leave behind small trails to follow, which isn't really anything game-changing in the demo, but in the full game it will be a handy way to try and track a giant, since killing the giants is the win condition of the game and the giants'll spawn the flocks.

As you also might have noticed in the gifs, the enemies in the same hunting grounds and flocks all usually have the same genes, with some slight mutations here and there.


With this functional and added to the game, all gameplay-related aspects but one are ready for the demo. From this point on, it will mainly be polishing what's there, adding some more npcs, getting all the graphics up-to-date, adding music and the last gameplay aspect. It semi-sounds like not a lot, but it's actually still a ton of work.
Yet, this is what I'd say a feat in development, so I'm happy

I would love to hear your opinions!

[Cakeprediction]

Update 19:
I've once again added a ton of stuff, so I'm just gonna go over everything quickly :p

To start off, I've added lots of details to combat to make it feel more satisfying. It's one of the most important parts of the game, after all. To summarize:
-Screenshake, obviously. Pretty much everything has slight screenshake now
-Small pause whenever you hit an enemy, which I've masterfully coded by running an empty for-loop 10^100000 times or something
-If you hit an enemy whilst being in close range, you get knocked back a bit
-The monster gets knocked back a bit
-A slash line kind of effect, inspired by katana zero

All of this added up actually makes the fights way more fun than they were before, you can see the combat in play in the gifs to come.


Second batch of changes is that I've added a bit more movement options.
Basically, it's now possible to go over your standard max running speed by grappling yourself forward with your sword. If you do so, you keep running a bit faster for a small period of time. Using slopes whilst going over the walking speed limit also allows you to jump off slopes, which makes for some very fun movement:


I've also added a bit of knockback to the sword throw and slash, which can now function as a jump boost or slight double jump(in one of the battle gifs, you actually see me using my sword to jump higher in the air so I could hit the enemy)


Then, the final changes:
Matwek's been busy and has created almost all modular parts for the behemoth, meaning the darn thing is almost ready for the demo :D.

Here are some combinations of head and body genes showcased:

Acid plus charge


Laser plus spiked


Calling+teleporting

Also, I forgot to mention that there's health, grappling energy and dying now.


This wasn't all though, because I've also added something entirely new. At least, I've started working on it. May I present to you, the return of the worm:

The AI is a lot simpler than the behemoth, but it's a ton of fun to fight because of its huge size and the fact that you can fly by hitting him with your sword repeatedly. These things are more dangerous than behemoths, so they have a low chance of showing up among with the behemoths. I'm not sure, but I might even add that the behemoths'll try to stay away from you whilst attacking you, if the worm is attacking you as well.


That's it for now, I'm not sure what I'll work on next, mayhaps some menus or the final enemy for the demo.

[ProgramGamer]

This is going to be such a cool game!

[Cakeprediction]

This is going to be such a cool game!

Thanks! "Cool" is definitely something I'm trying to go for ^^
Update 20:
And we're at update 20 already :D, quite a short one.

This time, I have something different, something narrative-based.
Basically, I started working on the demo boss/the reoccurring rival.
May I present to you, the prophet of blades:

She's this poncho chick who somehow has the ability to control an infinite amount of swords. The reason why she's mad at you is something you'll get to figure out later.

I still need some more attacks though, so any suggestions would be appreciated!

[Crabby]

Maybe you could have an attack where a bunch of swords stack on top of each other, and then, in a slashing motion, they are spread out.
This is all looking awesome. Especially the new art! 

[absolute8]

Sweeet. Glad this is in development.
I'm cool with that title btw. Go for it!